Android 2.1 versus 2.2 is probably not much of an issue for most people. I got my Android phone (HTC Droid Eris) when it still had 1.5. The single biggest drawback was that it couldn't deliver Google's turn-by-turn navigation. Three months later, Verizon upgraded to Android 2.1, and I no longer need to ask if I should buy a GPS.

So the real question is not the number of apps, but the apps that are likely to appeal to your daughter. As others have said, there are many more apps for the iPhone than for Android phones, but for both devices, many of the apps are multiples (dozens if not hundreds of Sudoku apps, for example; hundreds if not thousands of photo-organizing apps). Don't confuse "feature" (analogous to "number of apps") with "benefit" (usefulness to you).

I use apps for the Washington DC metro, for creating custom ringtones (I know it's one of my children without even looking at the phone), for reading news in French, for "killing" idle apps that would otherwise take up phone memory. I review comments or post to my WordPress blogs. I'm a big user of Evernote (Evernote.com): for instance, I use it to take a photo of a price tag, a sign, someone's business card; I can then retrieve that either on my phone or on my computer (Evernote can ever read the text in images).

I can use PDANet to turn my phone into a wireless hot spot when I can't find free wireless (slow, but beats "nothing"). I have a digital tuner for my guitar. I've even lost weight with the help of a Weight Watcher diary that tracks "points" in the WW system.

All of these are free apps. I haven't yet felt the need to download a pay app, though in a few cases I've sent donations to the developer because of the benefit their work has brought me.

It could be that apps like these hold no interest for your daughter. I suspect others will, and I imagine both platforms have something to offer. As long as she's willing to accept the contract terms, she can always get a different phone next time.

Pay attention to deals and bundles. My wife and I decided to take advantage of a buy-one-get-one offer for the same phone. Yes, it required a 2-year contract, but after rebate the total cost of the phones themselves was $49.99.

We kept our previous plan for call minutes; the mandatory data plan added $30 per phone per month. While $360 a year is not necessarily cheap, I'm content to spend $1 per day to have the internet in my pocket.

For much less than Verizon's accessory bundle, I bought a second after-market power cord and a car charger. You can also charge the Eris, somewhat slowly, with a standard USB cable connected to your computer; I use the same cable that transfer photos from my (real) camera to the computer.